Rainn Wilson’s SoulPancake Launches Instagram Series To Help Viewers Cope Through Coronavirus Crisis

In a time of great fear and pain, SoulPancake — the Participant-owned digital media company whose content mission is to foster connection and inspiration — is forging onward with its mission.

Actor and SoulPancake co-founder Rainn Wilson has launched a daily Instagram Live interview series titled Hey There, Human, which will welcome both celebrities and viewers to the table for conversations seeking to ease viewers through the anxieties of the global pandemic. The Wilson-hosted series, bowing on the SoulPancake Instagram page every day at 3 pm ET, will cover quarantine fears and coping mechanisms, as well as creative ways to stay connected.

The series kicked off with a reunion with Wilson’s The Office co-star, Angela Kinsey, and has subsequently welcomed Ed Helms, Noah Cyrus, Jenna Fischer, Finneas O’Connell, Penn Badgley, Patrick Starrr, and Alyson Stoner. The show begins with a celeb interview, followed by a pair of interview segments with viewers culled directly from the live stream.

“If this crisis has taught us anything it’s that we’re all human beings sharing a struggle as well as a planet,” Wilson said in a statement. “Hey There, Human is about humans connecting with (sometimes random) humans about our shared humanity in inhumane times. Let’s talk. Connect. Uplift each other. Get deep occasionally and share a laugh too! Also, I mean what else are you going to do?”

SoulPancake is far from the only media brand to take to Instagram Live amid the pandemic in a bid to connect with quarantined viewers. Influencer marketing platform Klear found in a recent study that Instagram Live usage has spiked 288% over the past month. And to make its streams more accessible, Instagram rolled the ability to consume them on desktops earlier this month.